


Converging Paths - Or Rivers, If You Prefer

by mel_is_a_melon



Series: Thirteen Is Now A Lucky Number [1]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Didn't intend it but the opportunity was too good to pass up, F/F, Fluff, Innuendo, Salem Witch Trials, Space Wives, The same goes for the angst, Yes I am aware those two tags don't go together but I'll make it work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-14 04:50:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16486226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mel_is_a_melon/pseuds/mel_is_a_melon
Summary: “Well, this is optimal.”Yaz couldn’t help but stare. “Doctor, how can you possibly say that without the least bit of sarcasm in your voice?”She shrugged. “At least we know how it got started.”“If it’s all the same to you,” Ryan piped up, “I’d rather have not learned firsthand.”In which the Doctor and her companions end up in the wrong time (surprise, surprise) and end up being saved by the one person the Doctor thought she'd never see again.





	1. Chapter 1

They landed in a beautiful open field, the sun reflecting off the Tardis windows and causing them to squint at the area around them.

“Yep, this is it! America, in 1550. Long before the European settlers got here.” The Doctor skipped off to a nearby tree, examining it. “But it looks like there might be some Native American tribes around here. The fruit’s been picked recently.”

“Are you sure?” Yaz asked tentatively. “Because I don’t want it to go the way that trip to the Caribbean did…”

“Oh, you get kidnapped by pirates ONE time…” The Doctor shook her head. “I’m sure.”

“Looks like they’re over there.” Ryan pointed out towards the ocean, about a mile from them, where smoke was billowing from a wooden building.

Yaz frowned. While this area of of the world had barely been covered in her history classes, the structures looked too well built…

But the Doctor, in her usual let-me-just-throw-myself-into-danger way, had already sprinted off down the field, Ryan hot on her heels.

She looked to Graham, and each could read the other’s expression perfectly: Might as well.

 

“Well, this is optimal.”

Yaz couldn’t help but stare. “Doctor, how can you possibly say that without the least bit of sarcasm in your voice?”

She shrugged. “At least we know how it got started.”

“If it’s all the same to you,” Ryan piped up, “I’d rather have not learned firsthand.”

This was America, yes. It was not, however, 1550. Yaz had been right about the buildings not being from that time period, but when she pointed out the dress of the people and the general look of the town, the Doctor had unthinkingly pulled out her sonic to find out where and when they were.

The reaction of the townspeople had made that very clear. They had screamed, various people sobbing in shock and mothers hiding their children in the folds of their skirts (and wow, Yaz had thought that was only a movie thing). When the priests had come to bring them to the square and the men had stuck logs into the ground for them to be tied to, it had clicked.

Salem, Massachusetts. 1620. The Salem Witch Trials. They had started the Salem Witch Trials.

And even now, the Doctor was trying to be optimistic.

Oh, Yaz was going to give the Doctor the scolding of her impossibly-long life for this.

As it was, she could only struggle at the bonds holding her hostage, watching the crowd gather at her feet yelling bloody murder. Graham and Ryan were pulling at the ropes too, but it seemed impossible, and they were losing hope fast.

When one of the priests brought out a flaming torch, Yaz thought that would be the end of it.

But she could hardly believe it when she felt the ropes slacken ever so slightly, just enough for her to pull away, and heard a voice hiss in her ear, “When I say it, run.” She didn’t move a muscle, watching as the figure hidden in shadows moved on to her friends, doing the same to each of them. They waited, stealing glances as the priest drew nearer.

Then, out of the crowd, came the same voice - “Now!”

They didn’t waste a second. Each of them ripped apart the ropes and jumped off the platform., people screaming and parting for them as they ran through the crowd. It seemed no one dared to touch the “witches” would could seemingly tear apart ropes with their bare hands.

They still didn’t stop, though - the group of four, then five as the figure in shadows joined them, booked it all the way back to the Tardis, where they slammed the doors and slowed to a stop, panting heavily.

The Doctor was the first to recover.

“Right!” She clapped her hands together, somehow still radiating positivity after almost being burned alive. “That was a close one. Thanks, by the way, random stranger in my Tardis, who even are you?”

The companions turned to the figure, still lingering at the doors.

Hands reached out of the folds of the cloak surrounding them, reaching for the hood and tugging it down in one fell swoop. Bouncy blonde curls spilled out, and a face with perfectly done makeup and a smirk was revealed. She turned to the Doctor, a mischievous light in her eyes.

When Yaz glanced at the Doctor, she was surprised to see the Time Lord looking at the woman with shock. Her eyes flashed through panic, confusion, pain, and finally settling on an expression Yaz had only seem on the Doctor a number of times, and never this desperate. Hope.

“River…?”

“Hello, sweetie.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A reunion between our favorite time traveler and the love of her life.
> 
> AKA River and the Doctor, respectively.
> 
> (jk)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very aware that it took me way too long to get to the second chapter of this (so long, the BBC got to it before me), but in my defense, I'm lazy and don't write unless I should be doing schoolwork instead.
> 
> Yes, I realize that's not a great defense.
> 
> Oh, yeah, and there was a mental health break in there too.
> 
> Oh well. At least I'm updating it.

Graham wasn't particularly sure what the bloody hell was going on. He never was, to be honest, but more so now than ever before.

All he knew was they'd gone from touring a seemingly unpopulated forest to getting burned at the stake (which was pretty much par for the course for them) and been rescued by a mysterious woman that the Doctor was looking at at though she'd seen a ghost.

Which, Graham realized, was probably true.

He'd seen that face before. He'd been at home, taking a break from the welcome-to-space-now-run-for-your-life journey he'd undertaken with his friends while the Doctor took Yaz and Ryan to some club planet. He'd already put ten pounds on the three of them being sentenced to death for dancing a certain way, and an unsuspecting Ryan had taken the bet (which he'd later lost - apparently doing the Chicken Dance was an act of war there).

As he was washing his face, he'd heard Grace's voice again, scolding him for leaving the bathroom in such a mess. His heart had nearly stopped, and before he'd whirled around trying to find her, he'd caught a glance of his face in the mirror: hopeful for something he knew was impossible.

And that was the way the Doctor stared at this savior of a stranger - River, apparently. With a longing for someone who had left her long ago. Someone she'd loved dearly and throughly.

He couldn't blame her. River had an aura of mystique around her (he decided that the person who first uttered that cliche had to have been introduced to this woman) that seemed to entice and ensnare.

"See something you like, dears?" The woman smiled coyly and walked over to the controls. "I'm flattered, but I'm also married."

"River..." It was all the Doctor seemed to be able to say. She walked slowly over to River, her eyes shining. "You're here."

"Of course I'm here, darling. And may I say I quite approve." Her eyes raked the Doctor over, and Graham felt the urge to give them some privacy. If the way the Doctor looked at the TARDIS was akin to that of a besotted lover, the way she looked at River had him wanting to grab Yaz and Ryan and take off before they started making out. "Now let's see, where are we? I just finished up deragon racing around Havester Twelve. I swear, you were about to adopt one of them-"

"No you haven't."

Silence fell in the TARDIS. The Doctor's face was serious, more so than he'd ever seen before. The unshed tears in her eyes rolled over, and he heard Ryan stifle a gasp behind him. River's teasing expression grew solemn.

The Doctor nodded slightly towards River's hand, which was gripping one of the controls (which he doubted she knew was the biscuit dispenser) so hard her knuckles were turning white. "The scar on the palm of your left hand. A bookend fell on it in the...in the library." She took a deep breath. Her voice was strained. "Somehow, this is...this is after."

River's lips pressed into a tight line. "I didn't realize you even remembered that. That you noticed anything about me in there."

"River Song..." The Doctor took a hand and lifted it to her cheek. "No one could fail to notice you. Least of all me. No matter when."

And then they were kissing, and to avoid scarring himself and the rest of the team, Graham dragged them all out of the control room (going unnoticed by both women, whose attention was on each other's lips) and into the kitchen.

"Well then..." Ryan chuckled. "That might just be the weirdest thing I've seen since we've met the Doctor. And that's saying something."

Yaz's lips quirked. "Killer snails with three poisonous tongues?"

"Second weirdest thing then."

Because they knew they would be waiting a long time for the two to reconnect, and because they were British and dealt with anything weird this way, they steeped some tea and settled in to wait. Yay pulled a deck of cards out of her bag and they started a game of poker.

Two hours and ten thousand imaginary pounds later (the other two had tried valiantly, but Graham had the best poker face in Sheffield) the Doctor walked in, a sheepish grin on her face.

"Welcome back," Yaz said, throwing down her pair of nines triumphantly, "how've you been all this time?"

"Ah, nothing much, just...doing stuff, you know-"

"Which would make me stuff," River said (as Ryan choked on his tea and Yaz's jaw dropped), walking in. "Aren't you going to introduce me?"

"Yes! Introductions! That would be good." The Doctor grinned. "River, this is the gang. Graham, Yaz, and Ryan. Gang, this is Professor River Song, my wife who got locked in a database until she recently broke out." She turned to River. "How'd you do that anyway?"

"Pleased to meet you," Graham said, throwing down his king and jack of hearts and ignoring Yaz's burst of cursing in favor of shaking her hand.

"Likewise. Someone needs to keep her in line." River smiled, and Graham held back a shiver. Even when friendly, her smile looked like a lion's - one who has picked out it's next meal. "And spoilers, my dear."

As the two started bickering, Graham sat back down and smiled to himself. He might not ever be getting Grace back, but he was happy the Doctor got her wife back.

Though he had a feeling the TARDIS was going to be a little more chaotic than usual with her around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Show of hands, who wants me to write the Death by Chicken Dance or the Mutant Killer Snails fic? Because I kind of want to write them now.

**Author's Note:**

> Most of what I write will be on my Tumblr page at @mel-is-a-melon, so check that out if you'd like.


End file.
